The Jacques Léglise and Junior Vagliano Trophy matches at West Lancs in England took a while to start thanks to Mother Nature.
Once they did, it soon became clear there isn’t much to separate the best junior golfers from Great Britain and Ireland and the Continent of Europe.
The boys contest for the Jacques Léglise stands all square on four-and-a-half point apiece, while the GB&I girls take a one-point advantage, three-and-a-half to two-and-a-half, into the final day.
Near gale force winds
A four-hour delay because of near gale force winds saw cancellation of the opening foursomes, with both competitions reduced to singles golf once the winds abated. Going straight to singles at 12:30pm, the wind was still blowing at 20mph, with gusts of 38mph when play started.
As one GB&I Junior Vagliano Trophy player conceded, par wasn’t going to mean much: it was more a battle of attrition than one of skill and finesse. The six girls representing GB&I just won that battle, even though the afternoon brought gentler breezes and warm sunshine.
Spain’s Martina Navarro Navarro kicked off the Continent of Europe’s title defence with a 3&2 victory over England’s Annabel Peaford.
French player Alice Kong followed up with a 2&1 win over Ireland’s Olivia Costello before Kong’s compatriot Louise Uma Landgraf battled back from two down to earn a half point against Ellie Lichtenhein of England.
Very young group
Landgraf made two outstanding up and downs on the last two greens to finish all square. Then the bottom half of the GB&I order took over. Scotland’s Carly McDonald and English players Lauren Crump and Charlotte Naughton took care of business with wins.
“I’m delighted for the team because it’s a very young group,” GB&I captain Deirdre Walsh said. “We’ve a 13-year-old (McDonald) and three of them can play next year so for players this young to perform the way they did today is very impressive. ”Winning was always going to be a tall order considering the Continental Europeans’ average World Amateur Golf Ranking® (WAGR®) is better than the GB&I team’s (459 to 548.67).
Moreover, the Continent of Europe has won seven of the eight matches since the inaugural 2011 match with one contest tied, last year’s 9-9 draw at Royal Dornoch. European captain Myrte Eikenaar pointed to Landgraf’s half point as a potential decider at the conclusion of play. “We had a slow start but around halfway we started to come back, especially the way Louise fought,” Eikenaar said. “That was an important half point because to only make it a one-point difference could be crucial. Finishing like that motivates the whole team.”
Similar motivation
GB&I Jacques Léglise captain Chris King will be hoping the way his nine teenagers played West Lancs’ closing stretch will provide similar motivation. Early on, the Continent of Europe led in seven of the nine matches only for King’s charges to fight back.
“We gave away a few holes on the second half of the first nine, and then on the first half of the back nine we struggled a bit too,” said King, who is hoping to arrest a slide of four consecutive GB&I losses. “So we were pretty disappointed in the start we had, but coming down the last you couldn’t fault them. There’s a good buzz in the team room because of the way we finished.”
A Special Incentive
European captain Pierre Relecom is hoping a small financial incentive will guide his team to its 17th victory since the match began in 1958.
“It was a roller coaster day,” Relecom said. “At one point it was looking like we’d win the session 7-2. Then it flipped to advantage GB&I and then we got a tie, which is a good reflection of the two teams. “My message to my team is to keep doing what you’re doing, but we’ve given them a little incentive.
We went bowling on Wednesday night and there was an arcade there that took £1 coins, so we told them that for every birdie you make you get a £1 coin. Hopefully they will have a lot of £1 coins to spend in the arcade on Saturday night.”